Acting on a Dream
by AThousandTimesMore
Summary: After an event transpires, Lilly realizes that life is too short to hold everything back. one-shot Liley


_**Okay, I have no good excuses. Please read this story then hear me out at the note at the bottom.**_

Lilly looked up from her math homework to the digital alarm clock on her nightstand. It was 8:03 on a Friday night. Her and Miley's movie night. And Miley was an hour late. Miley had never been late to a movie night before, at least, she hadn't been late without calling to explain. Lilly tried to remember if her best friend had a Hannah thing tonight, but as far as she knew, there was nothing. Tonight was one of the few weekend nights when Hannah didn't have a concert, fundraiser, or interview booked months ahead.

Sighing, she picked up her cell phone and was about to call Miley when the ringtone for the brunette started blaring. Flipping it open, Lilly put the phone up to her ear, getting ready to yell at Miley for being late and not calling sooner. She opened her mouth to speak when Miley's panicked voice assaulted her ears.

"Please, listen to me," Miley said, apparently trying to hold back sobs. "They left, but I think I only have a few minutes. I… I'm sorry that I'm not there, but it really isn't my fault. Some guys… I was walking to your house when some guys grabbed me. You know that bridge you, Oliver, and me always used to hang out at before that group chased us out? That's where I am. Just… call 911 or something and get them over here. I'm scared, Lilly, please…"

"I'm coming," Lilly said immediately, getting up off her bed, her phone held between her ear and her shoulder as she ran around her room grabbing a hoodie and slipping on a pair of shoes. "Don't worry and try not to do anything stupid. I'm going to call 911 as soon as I get off the phone with you."

"Don't leave me," Miley whimpered over the phone and Lilly ran out of her house, getting into her car and putting it into gear. Apparently, Miley heard Lilly doing this. "No, don't come, it's too dangerous. Just call the police. Please, Lilly, if something happened to you…"

Her voice cut off and Lilly panicked when another person, a man, came on the phone. "I don't care who this is," he said angrily. "But don't you dare call the police. We won't hesitate to shoot this girl. She's probably already told us where we are. If you want to see her alive again then bring us three hundred thousand dollars in the next half hour. For every ten minutes you're late, she'll lose a body part, starting with her fingers."

The phone went dead and Lilly quickly dialed 911, telling them the situation. They told her to stay where she was and not do anything else and that she had done the right thing and she pretended to promise them that she wasn't going to try to go to Miley. But as soon as she hung up the phone, she turned out of her driveway and headed towards the bridge. There was nothing anyone could do to keep her away from her best friend.

She turned into the abandoned parking lot by the bridge and got out of her car, running to the bridge where she could see a group of about five or six men gathered. Two of them walked towards her and stopped just as they came into the ring the street light cast on the ground. "If you want to see your friend alive, you'll stop right there," one of them said.

Lilly stopped where she was, her eyes searching the darkness behind them for Miley, but she couldn't see the details of the people behind them.

"Do you have the money?"

"I want to see her before I give you the money," Lilly said even though she didn't have the money. The two men whispered to each other and one of them ran back to the group still engulfed in darkness, bringing two more people forward with him. One of them was another man, who was pushing Miley forward, a gun held under her chin. Miley looked at Lilly and her eyes widened.

"No, you weren't supposed to come!" she yelled, and the man holding the gun to her kicked her in the small of the back, making her whimper in pain and bend forward. "Lilly, you weren't supposed to come," she whispered.

"Stop talking!" the man said gruffly, smacking her across the face.

"Where's the money?" the first man asked. "You've seen the girl, now we want to see the money."

There were sirens and three police cars pulled up to the bridge and the men started to panic, yelling at each other. "You called the police!" one of the men yelled at Lilly. The man who was holding the gun to Miley. "We told you not to call the police!" There were men running all over the place and Lilly struggled to keep Miley in sight as people tried to run away from the police. Gunshots were fired and Lilly looked fearfully at Miley, but she was still standing.

Three of the men were down; shot by police officers, but the man who was holding the gun to Miley was still standing there, holding the girl in front of him like a shield and the gun to her chest. "If you want her alive, you're going to do as I say," he threatened as two police officers came up beside Lilly, guns drawn.

"Please, we can work this out reasonably," the officer to Lilly's right said calmly. "Just let the girl go and put the gun down."

The man laughed. "Yeah right," he said, grinning. "This girl is the only thing keeping you from shooting me right now. I'm not going to let her go and put my gun down. You're going to do as I say or she dies."

"Okay, okay, let's just all calm down here," the officer on Lilly's right said.

"Please, help me," Miley whimpered, and the man's grip on her arm tightened. She whimpered in pain and tears stung Lilly's eyes when she realized that her best friend might not come out of this situation alive.

"Help her," Lilly whispered, looking at the police officer on her right. "Please, I don't care what you do; just… just get her out of this alive. Let him go, I don't care, trade her for me. Do something other than just stand there!"

"You need to go back to safety," the officer said, not taking his eyes off Miley and the man holding her captive. "I want you to get back behind the police vehicles and stay there until you are told otherwise. You shouldn't have come here; this should be left to people who are trained to do this. You've not only put yourself in danger, but your friend. Do you understand?"

"Stop talking!" the man yelled. "And put your guns down!" The officers hesitated. "I said put them down!" he yelled, his finger starting to tighten on the trigger of his gun. They quickly put their guns down on the ground, holding up their hands to show that they were now unarmed. "Now, do you have that money?"

"We have the money back at the cruisers," one of the officers said.

"Take one of those radios you have and repeat what I say," the man said. The officer on Lilly's right took out his radio and looked at the man expectantly. "Say 'Have one unarmed officer bring the bounty to where the captive is being held. Have the money held clearly in one hand and the other hand held up in the air to show that the officer is not armed. Do not bring any backup or the girl will be shot.' Go ahead. Do it."

The officer repeated the message clearly into his radio, his voice trembling. A few moments later, an officer approached them slowly with the money held in one hand, the other hand held up to show that he didn't have a gun.

"Give the money to the blonde," the man demanded. "And keep your hands in the air. I don't want you drawing that gun from your holster." The officer gave the money to Lilly and she took it with shaking hands. "Now, Blondie, I want you to slowly come forward, the money held out in front of you. One wrong step and your friend dies. Do exactly as I say."

Lilly nodded and slowly stepped forward, and suddenly she was aware of one of the officers behind her picking up his gun. She watched as the man pulled the trigger on his gun, releasing a bullet into Miley's chest. The brunette's eyes widened and her body jolted as the bullet entered her. Screaming, Lilly dropped the money, running forward as the man released another bullet, this time into Miley's back.

"No!" Lilly screamed, catching Miley as she fell forward. She was aware of the police officers running past them, but she didn't care. Blood was running onto her hands and arms and clothes, staining everything red, but all she cared about was the fact that Miley had just been shot before her eyes. "No, Miley, please."

She gently lowered Miley to the ground, setting her head in her lap and trying to keep from crying. Miley's eyes were squeezed shut, her teeth gritted together in pain. "Lilly," she whispered finally. "You shouldn't have come. It's too dangerous."

"Are you kidding," Lilly whispered, brushing some hair out of Miley's face. "I would do anything to save you. I would trade places with you."

"No, I… I don't think… that would… have helped," Miley wheezed.

"Please, Miley, don't die," Lilly sobbed. "I can't… I can't live without you."

"Course you can," Miley said with a small smile. "You… you did it… before I moved… to Malibu."

"But I didn't know you then," Lilly sobbed. "I didn't know… I didn't know that I was going to fall in love with you."

"You… love… me?" Miley whispered.

"Yes, yes, I love you," Lilly sobbed.

"I…" Miley started to say, but blood suddenly gurgled out of her mouth and she convulsed once before her body went limp and her eyes dulled, telling Lilly that she was dead. Tears streamed down Lilly's face as she called Miley's name repeatedly, shaking her head, and sobbing. But Miley was dead.

~DREAM~DREAM~DREAM~DREAM~DREAM~DREAM~DREAM~DREAM~

Lilly woke up sobbing, tears streaming down her face as she sat upright, struggling to untangle her limbs from the sheets. That was the most vivid nightmare she had ever had in her life and from the moment it began, she had thought it was real. Taking deep breaths, she calmed herself down and glanced over at the glowing clock on Miley's nightstand. It was 3:09 on Saturday morning. She looked over at Miley sleeping peacefully next to her and sighed in relief. It had really just been a dream.

The blonde gently swung her legs out of the bed, being careful not to wake Miley up. She had done that more than once and the brunette usually didn't appreciate being woken up because Lilly needed to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Lilly had never told her about these nightmares, mainly because they weren't that bad, and also because they always had to do with the fear that Miley would die or leave before Lilly got the chance to tell her that she had fallen in love with her.

When Lilly had finally realized she had fallen in love with her best friend three months earlier, the first person she had told was Oliver, her best friend and boyfriend at the time. He had been incredibly understanding, considering she had been dating him, and had told her that he supported her fully. They had come to the agreement that they would just be friends and remained close after that, telling Miley that they realized that they had only really ever been really good friends.

But Lilly had never summoned up the courage to tell Miley that she liked her. There had been several moments when she had considered doing so, but something had always happened to prevent her from saying anything. The main reason was that she was afraid Miley wouldn't want to be friends with her anymore once she found out that her best friend had been crushing on her for so long without telling her.

By this time, Lilly had made her way out of Miley's room and into the living room, sitting on the couch in front of the TV. Miley's dad was on a business trip in Las Vegas and her brother had gone away to college on the east coast two years earlier, only coming back to visit on breaks. The house was completely empty with the exception of Miley and Lilly.

She shivered and reached for the blanket that was usually draped across the back of the couch, realizing that she had brought it into Miley's bedroom with her because it had been unusually cold in the house. Suddenly a blanket was draped over her lap and she looked over her shoulder to see Miley standing behind her. The brunette had another blanket wrapped around her shoulders and climbed over the back of the couch to sit next to Lilly.

"Hey, what's going on?" Miley whispered.

"Couldn't sleep," Lilly muttered, looking down at the blanket on her lap.

"Nightmare?" Miley asked quietly.

"No," Lilly said defensively.

"Come on, Lilly, I know you," Miley whispered, and Lilly looked up in surprise. "You hardly ever wake up in the middle of the night other than to go to the bathroom, and even then you crash as soon as you get back in bed. There's something going on, Lilly. Don't you trust me?"

Lilly winced as Miley struck a cord. "Yeah, it was a nightmare," she whispered.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Miley asked.

"Not really," Lilly said honestly, and, seeing the hurt expression on Miley's face out of the corner of her eye, sighed. "It's just… I… it's complicated."

"We've got time," Miley whispered. "And I'm willing to listen."

"Fine, but you have to promise not to freak out," Lilly said, and Miley nodded. "Okay, in this… this _dream_, it was our movie night, like last night, except you were an hour late. You called me and told me that you had been kidnapped, then one of the guys who took you took the phone from you and told me to bring money and not to call the police. You didn't want me to come, but I called the place and drove to the place under the bridge."

"Is this where we used to hang out all the time?" Miley asked, and Lilly nodded.

"Yeah," she whispered. "I got there and they had you, but then the police showed up. One of the guys still had you when everyone else had been caught. I was about to hand the money over to you when one of the policemen picked up his gun and the guy… he… he shot you." Tears threatened to spill from Lilly's eyes and she paused, closing her eyes and taking deep breaths to calm down. Miley put a gentle hand on her arm and her breathing hitched.

"He shot you a second time," Lilly whispered, keeping her eyes closed. "And I don't know what happened to him after that. You fell forward and I caught you. You were bleeding so bad… there was no chance that you were going to live. And then I… I told you…" She started to sob and Miley pulled her into a hug.

"It's okay," Miley whispered in her ear. "It was all a dream."

"But you don't understand," Lilly sobbed. "I didn't… you didn't… you _died_, Miley, you died! And I never got to tell you… well, I did, but you didn't… you couldn't… you died before you could tell me…"

"Hey, hey, listen to me," Miley said, pulling away from Lilly and grabbing the blonde's chin, making her look into her eyes. "This was all just a dream. And you can tell me whatever you want to tell me without being afraid of anything, you know that, right? If you want to, you can tell me right now what you told me in your dream and you won't have to worry about it."

Lilly hesitated before blurting out, "I love you."

Miley stared at her for a moment, eyes wide, before speaking. "That's what you wanted to tell me?" she whispered. "That… that's what you told me in your dream?"

"Yeah," Lilly said quietly, biting her lip anxiously and searching Miley's face for any sign of emotion at all. Tears were still streaming down Lilly's face, but her sobs had stopped for the moment.

"I… I don't know what to say," Miley whispered, closing her eyes and tilting her head back. "I mean, it's like… you really love me?"

"Yes, Miley, I love you," Lilly whispered. "And for the past few months, I've been so afraid that I'd lose you if I told you, but I've also been scared that you would leave before I had the chance to tell you. I've been having these nightmares… it's been horrible."

"The thing is… I… I love you, too," Miley whispered. "Since you started going out with Oliver. I don't know why I realized it then, and I didn't want to ruin the relationship between the two of you, but every time I saw you guys together, I felt this pain in my chest and… at first, I thought it was because I was jealous of you because of Oliver, then I realized… it's been _you_ the whole time. _You're_ the person I love."

They stared at each other for a few seconds, which then extended into a few minutes, then Lilly slowly started to lean towards Miley, her eyes fluttering closed as their lips touched for the first time. An electric spark seemed to jump between the two of them and they kissed, both of them pulling away after a few seconds with smiles on their faces. Miley gently wiped one of Lilly's tears away with her thumb and pulled the blonde into a hug.

"How come it took us so long to realize?" Lilly murmured into Miley's shoulder after a few minutes.

"I don't know," Miley whispered after a few seconds contemplation. "But it doesn't really matter right now, does it? All that matters is that we have each other now. We've finally found each other, and that's all that counts."

Lilly's eyes fluttered closed. "Yeah," she whispered tiredly. "I love you, Miley."

Miley smiled down at Lilly as the blonde started to breathe deeply, having fallen asleep on the brunette. "I love you, too," she whispered, stroking Lilly's hair lovingly before lying back on the couch, covering the both of them with the two blankets before falling asleep, as well.

The two girls slept soundly, knowing that they had finally found the person their hearts belonged to.

_**Okay, as said before, I have no good excuses, other than the fact that I've been really busy recently and haven't had the time to work on stuff that I want to work on, let alone get on the computer to write. I apologize and I promise that I'll be updating **_**Give Me A Reason**_** as soon as I possibly can. For now, bear with me and take this story as a sort of gift of apology. And I know that I probably shouldn't be asking because I haven't updated in so long, but please review. I really appreciate it. Thank you all so much for bearing with me, and thank you in advance for reviewing since this is a one-shot and I won't be able to acknowledge you all.**_

_**AThousandTimesMore**_


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